Gameday: Raptors vs Warriors – Apr. 4/10

I’m a bit worried about today’s game, I’ll be honest. Not because Golden State is a great team, but they score the crap out of the ball from the wing position, and play small ball. We know how that goes for the Raptors right?

Q. You guys have found some gems from the D-League, can you talk about Williams and Tolliver? Both those guys killed us the last game.A. I wouldn’t go as far as labeling Reggie Williams and Anthony Tolliver as “Gems” but they were good finds by GM Larry Riley in particular Williams who secured a guaranteed contract for next season. Williams is a scoring two-guard who can shoot, handle the rock and finish inside. He’s a good player but a redundant layer on this team especially going into next season when they’ll have Kelanna Azubuike returning and a possible draft pick in the backcourt as well. Anthony Tolliver is a prototypical Nellie big man who can spread the defense with his shooting and allow Nellie to create mis-matches on the floor. Tolliver doesn’t consistently rebound and isn’t much of a defensive presence which is precisely why the Warriors love him.

Q. What’s Monta Ellis’ future on this team?A. Monta’s future with the team is under a cloud of mystery. Monta is a very good player but a horrible fit next to Stephen Curry and with Curry being the new face of the franchise its not hard to tell which one is on the way out of town. The Warriors turned down a potential deal with Memphis in which they would’ve received OJ Mayo, Hasheem Thabeet and a 1st round pick in exchange for Ellis. If the Warriors get the top pick in the draft then I believe they trade Monta, a deal such as Rudy Gay for Monta would be a great deal for the Warriors.

Q. A lot of folks in Toronto love Stephen Curry and remember his sweet stroke as a young kid when his dad played for the Raptors. Can you gush about him a bit?A. Curry has been spectacular this season, plain and simple. He came into a tough situation with so many things going on with the team off the court but he’s managed to weather the storm and become the leader on the team. Curry brings a flair to the game without trying to do so, he makes the difficult plays look easy and is the ultimate teammate. Curry’s true potential won’t be realized till the Warriors get better players around him because Curry is the type of player who will stand out even more so on a winning team, as the team gets better, so will Curry.

Q. Talk about Larry Ellison and what he can mean to this team? How do you guys feel about the situation?A. No one truly knows what to expect if and when Larry Ellison purchases the team but we do know it couldn’t be worse than the Chris Cohan era. Ellison would present a change to the status quo and rid the Warriors of the bad management its been plagued with for close to two decades. Ellison is a known free spender who will do what it takes in order to succeed and win which would be a welcomed change in Warriors land. Larry Ellison might be the only owner with a bigger ego than Mark Cuban, no small feat.

Q. Would you give up a package including Curry for Bosh in a potential trade (lets start the rumour here)?A. I don’t see the Warriors dealing Curry anytime soon. If the Warriors are to make a run at Bosh, it would be centered around Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins, Brandan Wright, Anthony Randolph, some combination of those individuals is what the Warriors would offer. I personally don’t see the Warriors dealing for Bosh because the expect Anthony Randolph to return next season fully healthy. The word around Randolph is that he’s making dramatic changes this off-season and looking to come into camp next season primed and ready for a breakout season, multiple scouts and execs have told me that Randolph will be better than Bosh, for Warriors sake I hope it comes to fruition.

Keys to the game

Stop both Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis: the last time we played the Warriors, the two combined for 66pts 10rebs 12ast 6stl 1blk. If Calderon and Jack aren’t cutting it early, then Triano needs to give some time to Banks. If the Raptors go with Calderon/Jack at the same time, you can expect the same result as the last time.

Protect the glass: Bargnani has been rebounding better lately, so this should work itself out naturally, but the last time out, olliver and Hunter combined for 19rebs. The Warriors pulled down 18 offensive rebounds to go along with that. That’s a lot of second chance points.

Protect the ball: Golden State leads the league in fast break points with 24.4/game. Last game, Toronto turned the ball over 18 times leading to 24 fast break points; nothing turns into easy transition points like a turnover.

No zone: I’m getting nervous thinking about Curry and Ellis mangling our zone with sweet looks from beyond the arc./li>

If the Raptors take this one down, they will be 1 game behind Charlotte and 2 games ahead of the Bulls. Each team has 6 games to go after today. No excuses.